Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 14, 2026
13:12
Translational Brain Mapping at the University of Rochester Medical Center: Preserving the Mind Through Personalized Brain Mapping
Published on: August 12, 2019
Parietal substrates for dimensional effects in visual search: evidence from lesion-symptom mapping
Sandra Utz1, Glyn W Humphreys, Magdalena Chechlacz
1Department for General Psychology and Methodology, University of Bamberg, Markusplatz 3, 96047 Bamberg, Germany. sandra.utz@uni-bamberg.de
Brain : a Journal of Neurology
|February 14, 2013
Summary
Brain regions in the right parietal cortex are crucial for maintaining attention when visual search targets change properties. Damage here impairs this ability, affecting visual dimensional change processing.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Visual search performance improves when target features remain consistent across trials.
- Dimensional carry-over effects, where consistency aids search, are well-documented but the underlying neural basis is less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify the specific brain regions essential for dimensional carry-over effects in visual search.
- To investigate the role of the right inferior parietal lobule in attention shifting during visual dimensional changes.
Main Methods:
- Voxel-based morphometry analysis was conducted on 25 brain-lesioned patients performing a visual search task.
- Patients searched for targets defined by color or orientation, with dimensions remaining constant or changing between trials.
- Groups were categorized based on the presence or absence of dimensional change effects on search performance.
Main Results:
- Damage to the right inferior parietal lobule (angular and supramarginal gyri) extending into the intraparietal sulcus was significantly associated with an absence of dimensional carry-over effects (P < 0.001).
- No significant differences were found between groups in working memory tasks, and carry-over effects did not correlate with working memory performance.
- Spatial, sustained attention, and working memory deficits, along with lesion volume, were controlled for.
Conclusions:
- The right inferior parietal cortex, specifically the angular and supramarginal gyri and intraparietal sulcus, is critical for implementing attention shifting during visual dimensional changes.
- These findings highlight the neural substrates supporting the ability to adapt attention when visual search parameters change.
